We live in a country that is so bloodthirsty that it has not only been involved in wars around the world for 80-90% of it’s existence, but there are mass shootings being perpetuated every week or so with no end in sight. We’re so desperate to kill one another that it’s not even safe to go a grocery store.
But at the exact same time, the laws that allow this state of affairs to continue aren’t used for their intended purpose. The 2nd Amendment is supposed to be for stopping the government from becoming tyrannical, but the ones who seem to champion it the most are the tyrants. Rights get taken away, protesters get brutalized but nothing ever really escalates like in other places. We all just decided to stop caring and move on within a week, mostly to keep our oppressors from clamping down even harder.
Sometimes it feels like the U.S. is a land full of hostages. Where the few hold the power and their armies of well paid thugs are encouraged to crush any resistance.
I can’t help with this exact question.
But I can say that I’ve visited the US and been gobsmacked. Absolutely baffled. By the way things are and the fact that 300+ million people put up with it. (Although we could probably say the same about any non-socialist country.)
Unnecessarily hostile and aggressive border guards ruin every trip before it starts.
Shops are hard to find.
And before you think about finding a shop, you better figure out if you can walk at all.
If you do walk, expect to be questioned by the police. And by well-meaning locals.
Everyone expects a tip (I understand why, but it’s a strange experience).
You have to work out the tax. That tax always seems very low to me.
Gas prices always seem very low, too, in comparison to the price I usually pay. (Then again, as I understand it, Americans spend more on their rent and other essentials than where I am, so I can see why people complain about fuel prices.)
Food prices are high! Food seemed to cost about three times what it costs where I live (pre-pandemic).
The cost of being a visitor in the US, per day, is double [edit: or triple] that in most of Europe.
I’m unsure if this is anything like what you were looking for. But my brief experience so shocked me that I am unlikely to emigrate, and any future visits are likely to be short ones. (This isn’t a reflection on people as a whole, who seem to be as polite as people anywhere, so far as generalisations are possible.)
Edit: changed a paragraph because it meet have sounded mean, which I did not intend.
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